Liverpool FC Team Talk, Gossip, Rumours 2024/25

the fact you have to slow it down to a ludicrous pace to see Elliott sort of trail his leg into the tackle means I wouldn't have moaned for a second if it was the other way round, sorry.

AWB took the bait, barely grazed the ball, and Elliott is under no obligation to try and avoid the slide as it comes in.

the complete outrage about that penalty from some is mind-bending.

The final league table may suggest that Liverpool won the league comfortably in 1990 but in reality it was very different. Aston Villa had the measure of Liverpool up until about the final 8-10 games when the pressure got to them. We weren't great either but having more experience through the team and a larger squad got us through. If Graham Taylor's side had another 2/3 players in his squad they may well have won the league.

The 1988 team blew away the league, they were so dominant that they had the league won by March and after that it was cruise control which is probably why they lost the FA Cup Final to Wimbledon.

The 1986 title was really exciting as Liverpool, Everton and West Ham were all in it. Everton were the favourites, but we had a chance because they had to play West Ham in the final stretch of games. Forest beat West Ham and drew with Everton which proved to be the difference between the teams. Everton's draw with Forest was the second last game of the season and we won the title by 2 points on the final day.

This season was supposed to be one of transition with the objective of getting back into the Champion's League. Nobody expected us to be in the conversation regarding the league title. The team lacks composure, we concede a goal and then it's adrenaline football chasing the game to get a result. My concern at this point is that Klopp doesn't run the players into the ground as has happened before because it will impact on the next season.

Yes u are spot on I think, Diaz, nunez and gakpo not good enough and too wasteful, even salah and dom yesterday should have had 2 each at least, I know we concede goals and chances but that's the way we play I think, we push on and create loads of chances while leaving ourselves vulnerable at the back but I think klopp bets on us outscoring the opposition but our wasteful strikers are letting us down, imagine a prime fowler, suarez or torres getting all them chances and service, fowler would score 50 a season I'd say

Always tough on a Monday after a gutting loss, add in that we are now out of the title makes it even more galling. I wished we would have put up more of a fight in Klopp's final season but I guess being out of it with 7 games left is not the worst thing.

So focus now turns to the Europa League, in case we cannot keep hold of a top 5 position to ensure we are back in the Champions League next year. At least that will be another trophy as well.

I don't think we'll win it from here but we're certainly not "out" of the race. We're only second on GD and we're a point ahead of Man City after 31 played!

I think since Salah has returned, it no coincidence that our from has skewed a touch. He's obviously not playing near his best, which doesn't help, but when Salah plays we tend to set up completely different, especially without the ball.

When Elliot was wide right, he would tuck in as a fourth midfielder when in transition, giving us more numbers in the middle and a better balance, but he would also make himself as an viable touchline option when we went on the attack, he could go to the by line, just keep wide and create the overlap, or he would often do as Salah does and cut in.

When Salah is off form he becomes so predicable, he tries to force goals, but does the same thing every time to do this, cut in and try get his shot away. It makes us so much easier to defend that wing, as the full back knows what he's going to attempt 99% of the time.

Sarcasm.

People saying we're out of it are driving me insane, we may not win, but we're definitely not out of it yet. This was always a dodgy one of our fixtures and we were never going to win 8 from 8, it's still technically in our hands and we've a home game against Palace up next. A good win in that and give us confidence for some touch fixtures ahead…

It's too early to be worrying about goal difference, 2 or 3 games to go, yeah. Hopefully by then we've narrowed it but it could be in our hands again by then.

Spurs will have a big say yet. City away to them is a tough one, they've a good record against them IIRC.

how are we out of the title race that’s a ludicrous thing to say we are 9/4 to win it Arsenal were 11/4 last week were they out of it ? Appears not

A lot of twists and turns to come the fact we are still ahead of city fills me with hope

Man U are 22 pts behind us in 6th place, so we cannot now finish outside the top 5 even if we lost every remaining game!!

Yesterday was dreadfully disappointing, and we’ve had a couple of those type results this season, but it really is all still to play for. As I said here last week, Jota is the biggest missing piece, hopefully he’s back sooner rather than later.

With the Europa final being in Dublin, it would be amazing to reach that and it to be Klopp’s last game. The Bilbao stadium rocking to the TV coverage of the Copa del Ray final at the weekend is what Croke Park should be aiming for if that fan-zone idea works out. Would be class, as it’d be almost full of LFC supporters. ( Mind you, they’ll probably charge €100 for a ticket 🙄🙄)

The fight remains well and truly on, let’s enjoy the ride!!

Chipping in on a few of the topics since the match

1. Performances against the top 6 - Far too many points dropped. The 3 games against United this season have really shown a wastefullness and a lack of game management.
2. Diaz and Nunez - It feels harsh to critize Diaz as he has been scoring goals recently, but ultimatly he was signed as Mane's replacement and has not provided the same level of output. Nunez is a different character but wasteful again yesterday - he has the highest negative difference between xG and actual goals (6.7) i.e if he'd scored the 7 goals he should have then we'd likely have more points, or at least the same goal difference as Arsenal (more on that later). Jota in contrast has scored 3 goals more than his xg for the season.
3. Goal difference. Arsenal have scored 3 goals more than us. They have conceeded 6 less. It's the defensive part that is hurting us more than the attack.
4. Youth vs experience. The young blood in the team was obviously a huge help earlier in the season but I wonder know if a lack of experience is beginning to bite, we've seen errors from Quansah and Bradley. Part of me wondered how Thiago would have helped yesterday, as well as Trent. The type of passes Trent can play to start an attack are really missing from the gameplan right now.

I went through a phase of wondering if Trent would get back in when fit but he's needed now alright.

The thoughts of getting by Palace at home next week but then having Jota, Trent and Ali back for the remaining games is exciting.

Definitely miss Trent. Bradley done well but he's no Trent.

If Arsenal do that, their form since the New Year would be something else, City and us from when we were at our peak.

Arsenal were exhausted at the end of the Christmas period, dropping points they would never usually have. I think generally breaks have come at the right time for them.

From now though it’s a huge ask, especially with the CL. No real room to rest players and big games coming thick and fast. Unless they get battered tomorrow night and decide to concentrate on the league I’d be shocked to see them go the rest unbeaten. And if they do, fair play to them, it’s a huge achievement.

Trent is capable of doing that out of nothing, nobody else in the team can really do that. That isn't a criticism, very few players can see it and then bloody execute it.

That has no relevance what so ever.

Yesterday the shots on goal stat at half-time was 15-0 in our favour. In an away game against Man Utd that is unprecedented. We had a further 13 shots on goal in the second half.

For perspective, last season we were winning 1-0 at half-time in the game at Anfield and went on to win 7-0 with a total of 18 shots on goal. Gakpo, Nunez and Salah each scored 2 goals.

Creating chances has not been our problem in the games against Man Utd this season, players failing to show a bit of composure and finishing them has been. Having Alexander-Arnold in the line-up wouldn't have changed that.

So, basically I half disagree.

Alot of our chances yesterday were actually butchered moves more than anything save maybe the Sobo chance in the first half.

The Salah first time shot in the first half was reduced to a half chance by Diaz playing it behind him, the Nunez shot (or whatever it was) was him not having the vision/technique/whatever to simply square the ball.

Trent's assists are usually on the back of very accurate passes. Right pitch, speed, just on front of the player etc.

Arsenal got one against Brighton, where the Brighton player did actually get the ball first, and they still gave it, so I'd be raging if that lunge from the United player, who never got the ball, but took out the player was waved away.

What is your thoughts on City so far this season and going forward?

''Liverpool battered United on Sunday. They had 28 shots to 11. They won the xG 3.6 to 0.7. They should have been out of sight

And what’s worse, this is part of a pattern.

Liverpool have the highest total xG in the Premier League, yet have scored three goals fewer than Arsenal. The xG had them beating City home by more than a goal, but they drew. It had them beating United at home by more than a goal, but they drew. It wasn’t quite as stark in the home game against Arsenal but still, it was a game in which they were wasteful. If Liverpool do not win the league this season, they will, not unreasonably, blame the VAR mistake that cost them a goal at Tottenham, but if they look at the responsibility they must take, the failure to take chances in key games will loom large. It’s perhaps not insignificant that Diogo Jota missed Sunday’s game at Old Trafford and those three key home games.''

.. 🙏